Sign.



G. '0,ANIENTIMP. SIGN.

APPLICATION PILBD SEPT. 18, 1908.

@472,699 v Patented Ja.11.25, 1910.

rwenkoz annue? l ait/,eea

UNITED. ra

FFlTGE.

GEORGE c. NIENTIMP, Earn PENNSYLANIA..

sien.

'Specification of` Letters'latent.

Patented Jan..l 25, 191th.

y application med september is, 190s.. serial no. 453,586.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that '1,' GEORGE C. Ninn-Tiny,

j3a ,cit1z en ofthe. United States, residing 'at ililr1e,h1n' the county .of Erie and State of -Pennsylvfanimhave invented new and useful l'inprov'ementsin. Signs, of which the followi'nbgasr'as eeiiication.

phis-fipventiqn relatesY tov signs and particularly 'tot those' employing transparent character forming elements, and the object of I ny invention is to providea sign having one or more of its walls provided'with ya series of openings,' the said openings having their Walls provided withI radially extending ofset i portions, and to provide character forming elements or bulbs of transparent material provided'uf'ith annular shoulders upon 4their inner Pfaces, vhollow necks extending. from the shoulders, lugs extending from the necks and having their outer races'4 disposed in .spaced relation to the inner faces of the shoulders and adapted'for insertion through the offset ,portions 'of the openings and i-*adapted when the bulbs or character forming elementsv are 'revolved to assume positions between the offset portions and to further provide elastic Washers mounted upon the neel/rsq of 'the bulbs or` character forming elements and adapted to lie between the shoulders above mentioned and the Walls of the sign with which such elements are en gaged, the said Washers being .adapted forV frictional engagement with the Walls otl the sign so as to prevent rotation of the character forming elements or bulbs.

Other objects and advantages-Will be ap parent as the nature 4of the invention is better disclosed,- an'd it will be `understood that changes Within the scope of the claims may be resorted to Without departing from the spiritl of tlie invention.'

In the drawings, forming a portion ofthis specification and'in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the sev' eral' vien'sc-Figure 1 is a .plan view of -a portion of -the sign' showing the opening formed therein. to receive one of the trans'-A parent elements.v Fig. 2 is a rearwvieiv of one of thetransparent elements. lug. au detail section through a portion ofltliesign. 'Fig-Li is a, rearv and ,one'oi the elements. Y view of a portion of one of the Walls of the sign showing the application of .one of the transparent elements thereto., Fig. 5 1s a vertical transverse section through the sign.

Referring now more particularly to4 the drawings, there is shown a'sign which is prefer-'ably constructed from sheet metal, and asshown the said sign consists of a front` Wall 1, a rear Wall2, bottom and top Walls 3 and 4; and end Walls 5. The sign herein .shown 1s preferably1 of rectangular form but as is obvious the sign ma)7 be of any desirable form best adapted for the pnrpose intended. The top Wall is provided With a longitudinally disposed reflector 6 which has curved or concavo-convexed portions 7 and 8, the terminal lends of said portions being directed to- Ward the Walls 1 and 2 at their upper ends,

and as shown said terminal ends are bent at right angles in hook form as shown at 9'so as to engage channel iron retainers 10 which are secured by means of solder or the like to the Walls 1 and 2 of the sign. The portions 7 and 8 are connected at their 'lower ends by a horizontally disposed longitudinally extending portion 111 which lies approximately at the center ofthe sign, and

'this porti-on has connected thereto aplurality of incandescent bulbs which may re-I ceive current rom any suitable electricv source, not shown.

A `reflector 13 -is located beneath the reiiectorv 6, andconsists of the downwardly curved portions -14 and 15V which have their outer or terminal .ends bent in hook form shown at 16l to engage channel iron members 17 which are secured in any suitable manner to the Walls 2 and 3. The construction justdescribed is such that-a longitudinally dis posed edge 18 is formed immediately beneath ythe portion 11 of the reflector 6, and as shown the ed 'e 18 lies directly beneath the bulbs 12. The lower' ends of the'portions 11i and 15 are directed toward the corners of the sign at the front and rear sides thereof. l

The front and rear'walls of the receptacle have formed therein a plurality of ,openingsor passages-19 which Imay be properly arranged or formed to provide certain letters of the alphabet or other 4characters or adapted when arranged to present reading lou matter'` upon the sign and the openings 1S)` -receive corres ondingly shaped lugs 21 which project Y, rom the neck 22 of a' hollow substantially semi-circular glass character forming element'23. While glass is preferably employed in the formation of such ele-v ments it is obvious that any suitable transparent material may be used. The neck 22 of the element shown particularly in Fig. 4

- of the drawings is adapted tol receive a rub ber or elastic washer 25 which is confined between Walls of the sign and the shoulders 24 formed upon the said element.

After the material from which the sign has been made, has been stamped to form the desired characters, the elements above described are'positioned in a manner lso that the lugs 21 aline with the offset portions 20 of the openings 19 and the said elements are then moved or pushed inwardly'to their full extent, after which the vsaid elements are re. volved so as to engage the said lugs '2l behind portions of the-sign -walls and are thus securely locked or held in their proper posi? between the said lugsand the said shoulders,

' the said space being approximately equal te theuthickness of the elastic Washer so as to effectively prevent sliding movement of the latter upon the neck and to hold it in such position that it can b'e readily inserted in i the'openingformed inthe Wall of the sign and afterward manipulated so that the lugs 40' l 'and the Washer frictionally engaged with can be moved into their operative positions the surface of .the Wall surrounding the opening Withouthaving to manually manipulate or otherwise adjust the washer as will be readily understood.

Having thus fully described the invention,

what is claimed as new, is :s: i

1. A sign comprising an inelosure, angle iron members carried. by walls of the'inclosure, reflectors within the inclosure having hooked endsdetachably engaged with the angle iron members, and transparent character forming elements carried. by the Walls'of the inclosure.

2. A sign of the character set forth having a series of openings formed in its walls, said walls of the openings being provided with offset portions havingl their side walls curved into the walls of the openings, and bulbs of transparent material provided with annular shoulders upon their inner faces, hollow necks extending from the shoulders.

lugs extending from the necks and having their outer faces disposed in spaced relation vto the inner faces of the shoulders, said lugs being adapted for insertion through the otfset'portions of the openings formed in the walls of the sign and adapted when the bulbs are revolved to assume positions between the said olset portions, and elastic washers secured to the necks of the bulbs and Aof a width approximately equal to the spaces between the lugs and the said shoulders so as to prevent sliding movement of saidl washers upon the necks, said washers when .the bulbs are in their operative positions being arranged `to frietionally engage the outer faces of the walls of the sign surrounding the said openings. l

In testimony7 whereof I atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE NIYEN'IIMI.

-VVit-nesses ALBAN O. Digium., e CHARLES A. MnRreNs. 

